Unity of Thought, Word, and Deed is True Humanness

29 April 1997, Kodaikanal

Published English.

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The path of devotion The country of (India) has been imparting peace and security to the world since ancient times. The traditional prayer in is that everyone in the world should attain happiness and bliss. May all the beings of all the worlds be happy ( )! In this land of spiritual eminence, we now find restlessness, injustice and untruth, which are increasing day by day. What is the reason? Lack of devotion and surrender to God are the main reasons for this. People are struggling all the time only to obtain worldly comforts and pleasures, which are temporary and transient. People do not try to achieve mental peace and Atmic bliss, which are eternal.

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The price of bliss is love for God One has to pay a price to acquire anything in this world. If you want to buy a handkerchief from a shop, you have to pay ten for it. You can’t take the handkerchief home without paying the prescribed price.

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The heart of a devotee Here is a small example. Once Lord asked , which among the five elements was the greatest. replied, “Earth is the greatest.” remarked, “Three-fourth of the earth is enveloped with water. In such a case, which among the two is greater?” agreed that water was greater. said, “But Sage drank up the ocean in a single gulp. So, is greater than water?” replied, “You are right, my Lord, is greater than water.” asked again, “But, this is a tiny star in the sky ( ). Now, is this star greater, or the sky?” replied, “The sky is greater.” The Lord agreed and said, “Your understanding is correct. The sky indeed is greater. In His incarnation as , the Lord asked for three steps from King . In the course of taking the gift of three steps, assumed the form of and covered the entire earth in one step and the sky in the second step. There was no room for the third step. King had to offer his head for the third step. So, now, is God greater or the sky?” replied, “Swami, when the mere foot of the Lord covers the entire sky, how much greater His full form would be! God indeed is greater.” “God, who envelops the entire cosmos, dwells in the heart of His devotee ( ). So, now, is the devotee greater or God?” asked . replied, “Indeed, the devotee is greater than God.”

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’s three sins What is sin and what is merit? Once, went to in the course of his tour of the country with his disciples. Standing before the altar of Lord , he said, “I have committed three sins. Oh Lord, tell me the way to atone these sins.

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“Oh Lord ! My first sin is that in spite of my knowing and also teaching others that God is beyond mind and speech, I have tried to describe you through several hymns that I composed. This betrays lack of conformity between my thoughts and words.

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“Next, having been convinced of the scriptural sayings that God pervades and permeates everything in the manifested universe, I have been preaching this truth to one and all. Nevertheless, I have come to to have your . This shows that my thoughts, words, and deeds are at variance with one another. This is my second sin. “Thirdly, I have firm belief in the teachings of the scriptures that one and the same is imamnent in all beings and there is no difference between the individual soul ( ) and the universal Self ( ). While I have been proclaiming this truth in all my discourses, I have now come here to stand before you as if we two are separate and different from each other. This is my third sin.

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“Hence, I pray that I may be absolved of all these three sins, of which I am guilty.” Thinking one thing, saying something else and doing what is totally different is not correct. Those whose thoughts, words, and deeds are in perfect harmony are noble ones; those who lack harmony of these are wicked ( ). Unity of thought, word, and deed is the underlying principle of true devotion and surrender. If you have staunch faith and love for God and if you dive deep into the depths of pure love, you will realise the nature of Divinity. To facilitate this, God comes on earth in human form, walks among humans, and interacts with them. God is in the form of a human being. ( ). Yet, it isn’t possible for all to recognise Him.

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Unity in diversity People attain different types of education in this world. There are any number of educated persons who see diversity in unity. But those who see unity in diversity are very few. We read scriptures and chant Vedic without understanding their real significance and inner meaning. We constantly repeat like a tape recorder but do not recognise the meaning implied in them.

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On the one hand, you have tendencies like desire, anger, greed, delusion, pride and jealousy ( , , , , , and ). On the other, you have virtues like truth, righteousness, peace, love, and nonviolence ( , , , , and ). Life is like a football field, where the ball gets kicked in both directions. We should kick the ball into the goal post. Where should the ball go to attain victory? The ball should go between two poles, the worldly education and the spiritual edu cation. That is victory. If the ball goes outside these two poles, it is not a goal. People should have the right perspective of both the path of action ( ) and the path of righteousness ( ). People say that God is a composite form of and ( ). He has both male and female characteristics. In fact, every human being has these characteristics. A person is the combination of matter and energy. What is matter and what is energy? Human body is matter and the inherent in it is energy. Body is the female principle ( ) and is the male principle ( ). A person is a combination of both. The world itself is a combination of matter and energy. God permeates the entire nature.

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(Telugu poem) The same principle exists everywhere. Truth is one, but the wise refer to it by various names ( ). Truth is one, God is one. You can call Him by any name you like - , , Jesus, , . The names and forms may be different, but Divinity is the same.

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One person may like , another , a third . Names and forms of sweets are different, but the sugar in all of them is the same. Nobody should think that God is different. You are God. God is in you, around you. Contemplate on God, who is within you with pure devotion. You have forgotten yourself. Your true spiritual endeavour is to look within your own heart. Then you will see your image in the mirror of your heart.

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Follow the path of wisdom and devotion Try to recognise the difference between wisdom and ignorance ( and ). Suppose there are mirrors everywhere in a room, on all four sides. A man enters that room and finds that whichever mirror he looks into, he sees his own image. He feels satisfied that he is everything. This is wisdom ( ). When a dog enters that room, it sees many dogs there. Thinking that those other dogs want to attack it, it attacks them. As a result, several of the mirrors break into pieces. Actually the dog fights with itself. When it sees a way to go out, it feels relieved and goes away. This sort of state is lack of wisdom ( ). is the cause of one’s bondage. One thinks that one is different from the . Though a person is the , one is deluded to think that one is the body. People are bound by the chains of bondage. There are two ways to escape from these chains. Either grow big, break the chains, and get free or escape by becoming very small. To say,” I am , I am ( , )” and grow very big and break the chains is the path of wisdom ( ). To say, “I am God’s servant ( , ), you become very small. To become very small and escape is the path of devotion ( ) (devotion).

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The lived incognito for one year after 12 years of exile in the forest. felt sympathy with them and always asked about their welfare. It is not that He didn’t know how they were leading their life; He knew everything. All this was done to elevate them to a higher spiritual level. Once, went for a walk with after telling his brothers to stay back. It was the custom in those days that the younger brothers obeyed their elder brother. During the walk, said to , “, we are men, and we can put up with all difficulties. But is suffering too much; she does not see the sunlight even. I cannot bear it. Kindly give her Your advice.” said, “There is no need for that.” Taking a leaf from a tree, wrote something on it, folded it, and gave it to , saying, “When you face insurmountable difficulties, see what is written on this.” What was written on it? Once when the faced a grave problem, opened the leaf and read: “These difficulties aren’t permanent.”

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Develop friendship with God Spiritual practices like chanting, meditation, sever austerities, and devotional singing, are all subsidiary practices. The basic spiritual practice is love. Love should be the undercurrent of all these. Any one practice is enough if you have love. There are nine paths of devotion: listening, singing, contemplating on , serving His Lotus Feet, salutation, worship, servitude, friendship, and self-surrender ( , , , , , , , , and ). Friendship comes before self-surrender. So, develop friendship with God. When you are a friend of God, you are one with Him. Then, it becomes easier to reach the next stage of selfsurrender. Try hard to have friendship with God. He is the only real friend. The world is the book, time is the teacher and God is the true friend. Your worldly friends will stay with you as long as you have power and position. Nobody will talk to you when you lose these. As long as you have money in your pocket, they will say, “Let’s go to the hotel, let’s see a movie.” They will go away as soon as your pocket becomes empty. This is the nature of friendship.

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All are incarnations of God with different names and forms. Lord said, “All are sparks of God.” Not only humans, even insects and other organisms are sparks of God.

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Everyone should love God. God is Love, Love is God. Live in Love. Whatever you do without love is useless. Contemplate on God with love. Realise that God is in you and you are God. (At the end of the divine discourse, Swami sang the song, “…”. )